After The Fact
by NicolieTheFace
Summary: Well you can't imagine that the King and Queen stayed completely blind to what happened in that tower, can you? This is what happened after Rapunzel returned home, after the fact.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The girl was petite, and fair-skinned. She had wide piercing green eyes and short, brown, pixie-like hair. She was beautiful, there was no doubt about it, and you could tell that she led a very happy being. So why did she look terrified? She should have been ecstatic, now her life could be the way it should have been all along. But she was so overwhelmed that she could barely string two words together.

"You okay, Blondie?" The handsome man beside her asked, squeezing her closer to him with the one arm he had around her. Although the nickname no longer fit the little brunette, Eugene Fitzherbert had fallen into a habit. "We can do this later if you want…" That earned him subtle glares from the happy and worried man and woman sitting across from them. They waited eighteen- _eighteen_- years for this, the return of their lost princess. They wanted to know about her life as soon as possible.

"Rapunzel, dear," The Queen said gently, placing her hand on her daughter's knee, "Mr. Fitzherbert is right. We can always wait until you're more comfortable; more settled in our palace, before talking to us about… well, everything." You could tell that it caused the woman physical pain to say this, she wanted to know just what her daughter had been _going_ through for these eighteen years.

"No, no." Rapunzel said, her voice clear over the underlying shakiness. _The poor dear,_ The Queen thought sadly. _This must be horrible for her. _Normally in a situation like this- who were they kidding, there was no _normally_ in this kind of situation. This was the kind of thing that happened once in a hundred lifetimes. But the Queen thought that, if this _were _a normal occurrence, wouldn't families just want to let it go? Pretend it never happened? Maybe. But she couldn't. She had to know what her daughter had been subjected to.

Rapunzel's hands rose to her shoulder to collect a lock of hair, but when they found only smooth fabric and cold skin, they flopped pathetically down into her lap. "I can do this," she muttered, so that only Eugene could hear. "Okay," she raised her head to look her parents in the eyes. Her mother's eyes. The exact same eyes she had looked at in her mirror in the tower. Who would have thought that someone else in the world had the exact same eyes, the same nose, even the same lips. The only thing she had seen before this was Gothel's cold, stony grey eyes and hard, sharp features. It was just odd to her. It was so much to take in. She ran her hands over her brand new incredibly short hair and took one more deep breath.

"What do you want to know first?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The King and Queen looked at each other, not entirely sure where they should ask her to begin. Eugene looked at Rapunzel, almost surprised that she was ready to talk about everything so fast. He could tell that her parents honestly had no idea _where_ they wanted her to begin. So, he butted in.

"Goldie…" He said gently, "How about you start with your life in the tower? What you did to keep yourself busy, stuff like that?" He glanced at the King and Queen, the Queen giving him a small smile in thanks. He nodded slightly in return. Rapunzel, oblivious of this little exchange, smiled and launched into her story.

"Well, I was never bored in the tower! Actually, that's not true. I was bored a lot." She giggled slightly. "But I always had something to do. I just got bored of the repetition." The King and Queen watched her talk animatedly, drinking in every inch of her appearance and every sound she made. "I had a routine that I followed very well, you see. I would wake up at seven a.m., maybe a little earlier to play with Pascal-" She paused to give the scaly green creature, perched on her shoulder, a little pat.

"And then I'd do my chores, like sweeping, moping, the laundry, stuff like that, but that would only take, like, fifteen minutes! So I had hours and hours still, just to keep myself busy. So, I'd read a book, or maybe even two or three." Rapunzel sighed. "I only had three books, you see. One about botany, one about geology, and one about cooking. And they were really interesting, but after a couple _hundred_ times reading them, they got a little boring. And I was kind of afraid of asking Mother for more books." Eugene watched the Queen's smile falter at the word 'Mother'. Rapunzel must have noticed as well, because her cheeks flushed and she started stumbling over herself to correct the word.

"I-I mean," she said quickly, reaching up for a lock of hair again and crossing her arms when she found nothing once again, "Gothel. Not Mother. I… I'm sorry." She looked the Queen in the eyes. The Queen gave her an understanding little smile. "It's all right, Rapunzel; it's a habit. She's the only person you'd ever called Mother, it's going to take getting used to. Please continue, dear." She smiled kindly and Rapunzel let out a small sigh of relief.

"After I read…" She started slowly, collecting her train of thought, "Usually I would _paint_." Her face lit up like the lanterns she loved so much and her expressions and movements became even more animated than they already were. She started describing her tower and the paintings in it in great detail, from the colors of the dresses she wore and the different lengths of her hair as time went on to the little pink flowers on her bedposts and the sun symbols hidden in all her paintings that helped her realize her true identity. And she just kept going, talking about her pottery, ventriloquism, guitar playing, knitting, every single thing that she did in that tower. No one, not Eugene, the King, or the Queen had the heart to interrupt her.

"Rapunzel, dear, you have so many skills, and you'll be able to refine them here in Corona…" The Queen said after her daughter finished. She seemed uncomfortable, like she was deciding whether to ask her next question.

"We're so glad you were treated well enough, at any rate, if you couldn't be here with your father and I, but what we'd really like to know, Rapunzel," It seemed as if she couldn't say her daughter's name enough. "Is if _you_ have any questions." The Queen bit her lip, nervously awaiting the answer.

**A/N: Mother of God, people actually like this? Hahaha well this is certainly a pleasant surprise. Thanks to flynnriderfanatic, bStormhands, and sunnyprincessbird for reviewing, no Sumi, you get no thanks ;) and a VERY special thanks to the twelve million people that put this on alerts! (Okay, it's not really twelve million people, but it sure as hell seems like it when I open up my email, lmao.) **


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